Gayathri Rajagopal

Gayathri is an agricultural scientist with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural science from India and a master’s degree in agribusiness from the University of Queensland. She was the recipient of ‘Edwin Munro Scholarship in agricultural science’ in 2017 and

the ‘Future Superstars award’ in 2018 from UQ. Following her master’s graduation, she was hired as a graduate scientist in Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries where she worked in a national project that promoted the adoption of agricultural technologies in vegetables. She later progressed into the role of a development horticulturist where she did trials on strip tillage farming practices in the Lockyer and Fassifern regions in SE Queensland. Her master’s thesis analysed different packaging options for vegetable export from Queensland which exposed her to the current and practical issues in agricultural supply chains. Gaya has also been working as a casual academic at the University of Queensland since 2019.

Her PhD is part of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods. She is working on integrating traditional indigenous knowledge with science and technology for co-improving the future business decisions and  value chains of native botanicals with a primary focus on Jilungin tea- a native bush tea used among the indigenous communities of Western Australia.